The inner heliospheric source for keV-energetic IBEX ENAs

Context. Up to now, three succesive full-sky maps of heliospheric fluxes of KeV-energetic neutral H-atoms have been registered with the satellite IBEX. The most outstanding feature persisting in these maps is the so-called ribbon which appears as an arc around the upwind direction with unexpectedly high fluxes. This radiation feature was not predicted by models, but at present is tentatively explained as due to energetic plasma sites outside the heliosphere in regions beyond the heliopause.